Omak

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Walmart Run

Donna needed to go to Omak today, so I agreed to chauffeur. I took the opportunity to pick up a shop vac I’d seen at the Walmart in Penticton. There, it was $35 (plus 12% tax) and I found the same one in Omak for $24!

It’s a small (one gallon) wet-dry vac. My hand vac died recently and I knew why–I’d been using it like a shop vac. So, replacing it with a normal vacuum cleaner didn’t make sense. I debated whether or not to even replace the vacuum, but considered what I need to clean up from the renos I just did and realised that having a vacuum on hand was a good idea.

The reviews for this machine are excellent, which is great since it only comes in at 720 watts, making me wonder how much sucking power it really has.  I just hope I can find a place to store it since it is about twice as big as the old hand vac!

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Trapping Cat Fur With Fleece Throws

Last time I was in Omak, I picked up a two-pack of fleece throws for the cats.

(the orange and brown one also has purple and red stripes in it and doesn’t look tigerish at all)

Fleece throws are great because they catch cat fur and they retain body heat, so cats are naturally attracted to them. Tabitha and Neelix knew immediately that the throws were for them and prefer to lie on them then any other part of the bedding.

During the cold spell this week, I caught them pulling the throws off the beds and bringing them closer to a heat source (too cute). I borrowed one to use as a shawl, and realised that they are really nice for wrapping up in to read a book or watch a movie.

So, I bought another set when I was in Omak yesterday, with one throw being solid green and the other being stripped blue and green. I’ll leave the solid coloured throws on the beds permanently since they match the decor and use the striped ones as wraps.

The first set cost me $6, the second $5!

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Avoiding the Crowds

I went to Omak today to do a bit of shopping and to see a movie, but the main purpose of the trip was to have an oil change done on the car. Arranging for that in Penticton is as difficult today as it was two years ago; the places with the cheapest prices are always booked up weeks in advance.

Since today is the American Thanksgiving, I called ahead to make sure the Walmart would be open and that it would be possible have the oil change done. Yes and yes. So I headed off around 11 and pulled into Walmart at about noon. The folks at Tire & Lube got my information and then I was free to do some shopping.

The store was very quiet and the aisles were stacked with things marked “not for sale before Friday.” It’s going to be a zoo there tomorrow! I don’t care what sorts of deals can be had on Black Friday, the crowds aren’t worth it.

A dehumidifier was the only big ticket thing I was interested in, but they didn’t have any. So, I stocked up on some dry goods and assorted sundries, nothing really notable, and went to collect my car. It wasn’t done yet, so I had a chance to sit for a bit, amused that the only magazines in the waiting room were about handguns.

An oil change was just $30!!!!!!!!!!! I also got a full tank of gas today for $25. You can’t get an oil change done up here for under $60! And this wasn’t a basic oil change, either; they did all the checks and fluid top ups, and they sent me home with almost a full quart of oil!

It was two when I left Walmart and the movie started at four, so I hoped to enjoy a nice leisurely lunch. HA! The  ONLY restaurant in town that was open was Burger King! If I hadn’t had so much time to kill and it hadn’t been so cold I would have gotten lunch fixings at the Walmart grocery section and had a picnic in the car, but BK it was today. Yuck!

The movie I wanted to see was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. I can’t believe we’re one movie away from the end. What a cinematic journey this series has been over the past ten years. The movie was worth the wait and the long drive home in the dark.

I made it back to the border in record time and breezed through at quarter past seven. I was ravenous by this time so I was grateful that Ella‘s was open. There I tucked into a ridiculously generous plate of chicken souvlaki for just $13.

Donna informed me tonight that Penticton’s selection of dehumidifiers is pathetic, so I’m going to try Sears catalogue, but I may end up having to go out again tomorrow.

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A Touch of Colour

Donna wins the amazing friend award of the year.

I invited her down to Omak today because I wanted to go pick up something at the Walmart. It was a quilt. I’ve been looking for one for a few years and had thought that I would get my colours scheme from it. Time passed and I had to press on with getting paint and whatnot. Thankfully, when I finally found what I was looking for, it still worked with my paint choices.

Before Walmart, we had a Mexican lunch at Tequila’s. YUM! 😀

Once I had the quilt, it was time to make a final decision on the rest of the fabric: curtains in the study and library, a curtain to block off the cab and loft, something to recover the sofa in the study, and scraps for the kitchen stool. I had looked at all sorts of stores and decided that if I found my dream quilt at Walmart, then I was going to be satisfied with what else I could get there to cross everything off that shopping list.

I lost track of time as Donna and I scoured the bedding and bath sections, then the fabric. I changed my mind a million times and when we finally found suitable curtain fabric, there wasn’t enough. I was going to concede defeat and go with the cheap linens I got in Campbell River, even though they were never intended to be a permanent solution, but Donna persevered and found a solution in the curtain rod section (of all places! :D). She was so patient, listened to me, and was an amazing sounding board. Thank you so, so, so much for your help today!

Two of the things I decided were:

  • Reducing the colour palette

Originally, the kitchen, library, and loft were going to be different colours. I have decided to have my dominant colours be green, pink, and yellow. Accents are chocolate brown, and I will have one orange statement piece. The toilet room, being its own private and closed off entity, can stay purple. But the three rooms that flow into each other need some sort of continuity.

  • Curtains

I’ve been trying to come up with a good idea for window treatments and have decided on plain old curtains to be combined with privacy window film (which I hope to pick up tomorrow). I bought curtain rods, so window treatments are ready to go.

I am a long way from installing all the things I bought today and showing them off properly. I need to get the rooms painted first, for one thing. But here’s a sneak peak of the fabric as well as the paint I bought yesterday:

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Next, we headed to Home Depot. I recently found a two year old gift card and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I hadn’t spent it yet. It’s because it was only good for the US stores! Ten bucks (and 13 cents change) got me a can of spray paint for my living room chair makeover project as well as an angle measuring thingy for my trim. Thanks again to Donna for thinking of that and finding it for me!

We made a quick stop at Princes in Oroville where I stocked up on Baby Ruth bars, a treat I haven’t had since I went to Chicken. Then, it was time for the dreaded border crossing. Since I was well over my daily allowable limit, I expected to have to go into the customs office and pay tax and duty on everything. This fear was reinforced when I was asked to turn off my engine, a first. The officer was a bit incredulous that two women our age could afford to winter somewhere without working, but saying that we’re writers seemed a satisfactory answer. He asked for a rough breakdown of what was purchased and then sent us on our way! I was shocked!

It was an incredibly productive day and I am now highly motivated to get this rig DONE. 😀

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A Wenatchee Detour

Donna, another friend, and I headed into Washington state today. The purpose of the trip was so that Donna could have her defective Verizon phone replaced while it was still on warranty, something which was going to expire in a couple of days. Verizon had told her that Omak had the nearest store. We figured we’d pop in at the Princes grocery store in Oroville then go to Omak, do the Verizon store, grab some Mexican food at Tequila’s, and finish the day at Walmart. I drove because my car was quicker to empty than was Donna’s truck. 🙂

Slight change of plan at the Verizon store, which is located in the Ace Hardware. They are just a distributor and it was necessary to go to a proper Verizon store. The nearest ones were Spokane or Wenatchee. I’d seen a road sign for the latter, so I confirmed that it was just a hundred miles away. We’d already come this far, it made no sense to let the warranty on Donna’s phone expire! So, we came out of the store and told our other friend that she could either spend the afternoon at Walmart or join us on an impromptu road trip. The decision was easy to make!

Unfortunately, Tequila’s was closed, so we decided to push on and stop at the first promising location for lunch.

The drive to Wenatchee was just gorgeous and easy. Our stomachs were a rumbling trio when we got to Pateros, so we pulled into the strip mall and decided to try out the little bakery there. We had nice turkey and cranberry sandwiches (Thanksgiving, remember!).

Coming into Wenatchee was a bit stressful because we didn’t really have directions and I’d left the GPS behind. We got off the highway, crossed a bridge, and headed into downtown, which made the whole day worthwhile. Downtown Wenatchee is stuck in the 1950s! Nearly all the store signs are those old signs they had back then. It was a most amazing time warp! The road through downtown led to the shopping district where we recognized the landmarks we were told to look for. We’d gone a little out of our way, but not actually done a detour. I definitely want to go back and do a photo tour of town!

It was late afternoon when Donna’s phone issues were satisfactorily resolved, so we agreed to shoot straight back to Omak, do Walmart, then grab dinner at the Mexican place in Oroville if it was open. We stopped again in Pateros for gas and then pushed on. It was getting late, so we didn’t dally at Walmart, but I will be going back there with fabric samples ASAP since I found there something for the rig I’ve been looking for since I started planning the decorating phase….

Thankfully, the restaurant in Oroville, Trino‘s, was open! Between the chips with cold slaw, the gigantic burritos, and the deep fried tortilla cheese cake bites with ice cream (not my idea!), we pretty much rolled out of there! I may not have to eat for a week. 🙂

Getting back into Canada was reasonably painless and then it was a hop, skip, and a jump to home. What a great day!